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| 12/30/08
- | Frost/Nixon: (Hans Zimmer/Lorne Balfe)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you're tired of hearing intellectually devoid, stagnant action music from Hans Zimmer and
yearn for him to explore intelligently stylish material of a much lesser volume.
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Avoid it... |
if you don't have the patience for a score built to subtly accentuate, rather than openly
dominate, a conversational setting.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 12/27/08
- | Milk: (Danny Elfman)
- All New Review |
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Buy it... |
if you love Danny Elfman's distinct, established instrumental and rhythmic styles, because
Milk is largely an extension of that sound into a slightly more dramatic realm.
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Avoid it... |
if the likeable personality that Elfman maintains throughout that style cannot alone yield the
kind of melodramatic weight you're expecting to hear for a topic involving so much controversy
and sacrifice.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 12/23/08
- | Cutthroat Island: (John Debney)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you define your swashbuckling pirate music by the parameters of Hollywood's Golden Age and
seek the one truly impressive translation of that sound to a masterful digital-era recording.
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Avoid it... |
if loquacious bombast of relentless and dramatic orchestral and choral intensity, consistent
in its massive scope over the course of two hours, is simply too much ruckus to tolerate (no
matter the score's status as a modern classic).
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| Rating: | *****
Read the entire review
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| 12/21/08
- | Crimson Tide: (Hans Zimmer)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you seek the vastly superior music that inspired the revolution of the synthetic
blockbuster score concept in the late 1990's.
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Avoid it... |
if you're part of the mutiny among score fans that has rejected Hans Zimmer's revolution on a
matter of principle, regardless of the strengths of his initially successful re-definition of
the genre.
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| Rating: | *****
Read the entire review
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| 12/19/08
- | Casper: (James Horner)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you seek one of James Horner's most charmingly heart-breaking lullabies, performed by
solo piano, choir, and full ensemble over the course of twenty gorgeous minutes in Casper.
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Avoid it... |
if the presence of the lullaby cannot compensate for 45 remaining minutes of merely average
comedy action and fluffy suspense writing common to both the careers of Horner and Danny
Elfman.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 12/15/08
- | Apollo 13: (James Horner)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
on the promotional album if you own only a handful of James Horner's scores and are in search
of the composer at his very best.
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Avoid it... |
if the understated respect that Horner conveys in his rather short score doesn't appeal to
your need for more lavishly melodramatic efforts from elsewhere during that era of his career.
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| Rating: | *****
Read the entire review
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| 12/14/08
- | The American President: (Marc Shaiman)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you seek one of the best scores that the romantic comedy genre has to offer, brilliantly
balancing the humor of the film's story with the gravity of its location.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect the respectfully restrained underscore in between the opening and closing
statements of the title theme to be as strikingly robust.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 12/11/08
- | Star Trek: Generations: (Dennis McCarthy)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you appreciated the conservative sound of Dennis McCarthy's music for the concept's
episodes on television, for Star Trek: Generations is largely a simple expansion of that
sound.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect the memorable themes or dramatic majesty of the superior film scores that came
before and after this in the franchise.
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| Rating: | **
Read the entire review
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| 12/10/08
- | A Simple Twist of Fate: (Cliff Eidelman)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you are an avid collector of Cliff Eidelman's typically understated character drama scores
of the 1990's, for this work is a standard entry in that collection.
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Avoid it... |
if you expect the usual, lush character theme from Eidelman for a film like this to receive a
satisfyingly full, ensemble performance.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 12/9/08
- | The Pagemaster: (James Horner)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if there is no limit to your patience with James Horner in his tendency to regurgitate
material in his children's scores of the late 1980's and early 1990's.
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Avoid it... |
if you have already tested the waters in Horner's ventures into the animated genre and you
found nothing of interest in highlights like An American Tail and The Land Before Time.
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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| 12/7/08
- | Only You: (Rachel Portman)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if the music of Georges Delerue melts your heart and you're curious to hear Rachel Portman's
first and triumphant merging of Delerue's sensibilities with the ideas that she would adopt as
her own standard for a successful career.
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Avoid it... |
if any music chosen for regular re-use in beauty pageants is not your cup of tea.
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| Rating: | *****
Read the entire review
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| 12/5/08
- | The Lion King: (Hans Zimmer/Elton John)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
on Disney's commercial album if the songs performed by the cast and Elton John are
your favorite parts of the film's music.
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Avoid it... |
on the various bootlegs if you expect all of the gorgeous portions of the score
neglected from the commercial album to be provided in satisfying sound quality.
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| Rating: | ****
Read the entire review
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| 12/3/08
- | Legends of the Fall: (James Horner)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you're looking for the most weighty, tragically melodramatic score in James Horner's
career, a masterpiece of thematic beauty and elegance.
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Avoid it... |
if you have no interest in hearing Horner adapt the broad strokes of John Barry's Dances With
Wolves into his own templates.
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| Rating: | *****
Read the entire review
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| 12/2/08
- | Frank and Jesse: (Mark McKenzie)
- Expanded Review |
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Buy it... |
if you are an enthusiast of Mark McKenzie's loyalty to strong and repetitious melodies,
serving this Western score with adequate energy.
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Avoid it... |
if twenty minutes of standard Western sounds for an orchestra cannot sustain your interest
through the score's other half (of intimate, specialty instrument contributions).
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| Rating: | ***
Read the entire review
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